Albany County legislator skeptical about town’s decision to close Skylane Motel

COLONIE >> An Albany County Legislator has criticized the town as she said its forthcoming closure of the Skylane Motel stops short of actually addressing the problem along Central Avenue.

In a press release issued Tuesday by Legislator Christine Benedict, R-Colonie, the motel’s closure for more than 250 code violations was referred to as “a band-aid approach.”

“The motels on Route 5, and now in other areas of Colonie, have become breeding grounds for prostitution, drug usage and other criminal activity,” Benedict said in the release, adding she has been advocating for the issue to be addressed for several years. “The town’s seeming inability to enforce its own definition of a motel is the basis of this problem.”

Benedict then cited the town’s definition of what a motel is, as per its Land Use Law, which states a motel is to be used for “transient overnight accommodations” for a person staying outside of his or her home.

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However, with the number of people Benedict said practically live at some of its motels, she said the town may want to look into changing the law.

“It is very clear that many people in these motels use the rooms as their primary residence, not merely transient overnight accommodations,” Benedict said in the release. “If the town feels the legal definition of a motel is not adequate to address the current problems, I can’t understand the Mahan Administration’s failure to amend the law.”

Town Attorney Michael Magguilli simply stated the town has followed the law and was not able to enter the building without probable cause. Once there was a report a man had fallen through the floor of the Skylane Motel and was injured, he said that was sufficient enough for them to enter.

He also claimed Benedict was asking to town to use selective enforcement for motels and hotels, citing the various extended stay hotels in the town.

“If we did what she wanted, we would put them out of business as well,” Magguilli said. “We can’t enforce laws on motels where she doesn’t like the clientele.”

Supervisor Paula Mahan simply brushed off Benedict’s comments as “grandstanding” and “political nonsense” and claimed Benedict had agreed with her administration’s approach right up until last year’s elections.

“Last time she came to town, she was going along with what we were doing,” Mahan said during a phone interview. “The political season came and she took the opposite stance.”

Benedict said in a phone interview that Mahan’s comments were “way off base” and said that Mahan hasn’t done anything to enforce the definition of motels during her six years in office.

“I think she’s just reaching for something to say,” Benedict said. “When they first started with the sex offender laws, it was fine. But that was it. She didn’t continue. She didn’t envision what can be done.”

Mahan said the town has done quite a bit during her tenure as supervisor, saying that it has not only established a daily point system for the amount of sex offenders that can stay at a motel, but also adopted a law in 2013 making it difficult for motels and hotels to expand.

Benedict said she didn’t begin criticizing Mahan’s administration until the three year moratorium on motel expansions was lifted in the midst of last year’s election season.

Still, Magguilli questioned Benedict, as he wondered what she had accomplished on the issue since she had been in office.

“I asked Christine in a town meeting, what law had she proposed in the county?” Magguilli said, adding her answer to him was nothing, but said it was because she was a Republican in a Democratically controlled legislature. “In that, she admitted she was ineffective.”